With the advent of digital technology in photofinishing systems, many opportunities are provided for improving the quality of the output of an image or photographic product produced by a photofinishing system. However, in some instances, the photographic products or images are produced having defects caused by the photofinishing system itself during the production process or caused by poor conditions during the capture of the image.
Products or images that require makeover in a photographic system or lab are determined by inspection and are basically products or images which include defects that are outside of acceptable quality limits established for those products or images. The reasons for failure during inspection include physical damage, visual flaws such as streaks or splashes due to processing problems, or failure of automatic printing systems to produce the image with the correct color or density.
Conventionally, an inspection of products or images is often done as a formal step in the production process or it can be done by observation during a finishing or packaging process. Typical products of the photofinishing system or lab are photographic prints that include images on paper or other support material. Photographic prints produced in high volume are typically produced on long rolls or webs of support material. Low volume production can be done on cut sheets of support material. In either case, the products packaged and shipped are cut into individual items. Inspection of products or images is done on either cut sheets or rolls of products, although high volume inspection is typically done on rolls of product. Those products or images which fail inspection are marked labeled or otherwise indicated as being different from the good or acceptable products or images. The type of indication is typically suited to the means by which the defective product is handled later in the process.
In current photofinishing systems or labs, an order that contains a product or image which needs makeover is separated from the other orders in the production batch with which it was associated. This is usually accomplished during a finishing or packaging process where the production batch is separated into individual orders and the components of each order are combined. For a typical photographic order, the components include the consumer's envelope, cut filmstrip, cut prints, packaging wallets and sleeves, and possibly other products such as CDs. The orders which require makeover are collected and the failed products or images examined by a makeover write-up operator. For each product in an order needing a makeover for color or density, appropriate correction instructions are written for those products. Products with only physical or process damages are made over without correction. The makeover order contents are organized and fastened together so the products to be made over are obvious and easily accessible. The order is typically placed with other orders that will be sent through the makeover process together as a makeover batch. There are normally significant queuing delays at either the packaging or the makeover write-up area while a large enough quantity of orders with similar types of film or service requirements are accumulated to make an efficient size batch. Small batches are inefficient in production due to the extra handling and set-up at the makeover equipment (for example, laminators, printers) and the packaging needed for the makeover process.
In current photofinishing systems or labs, batches of orders requiring makeover of photographic prints are typically sent to a laminating station to prepare a laminated roll of film strips to reproduce the defective photographic prints, usually on an optical printer equipped to handle the laminated roll of film strips. In a conventional photofinishing system or lab, an optical printer would have been used to make the prints originally from a long roll of film which includes individual rolls of consumer film that have been spliced together for processing and printing. The film is typically in strips at this point because it has been previously cut on a finishing station into individual consumer rolls and each roll into strips of usually four frames each. This is typically done at the same time and on the same equipment which cuts the roll of prints into individual prints and separates the orders. The filmstrips needed for makeover must then be made compatible for the optical printing machine. The laminator operator will remove the defective product, the original filmstrip, and the makeover instructions from the order. The laminator operator also separates, selects, examines, cleans, orients and inserts the filmstrip to be laminated (the machine uses an adhesive or tapes the strip onto the edge of a continuous roll of paper) onto the web of laminated filmstrips. For each filmstrip, the operator enters the frame or frames to be reprinted and the respective correction instructions which are recorded by paper punches and on a diskette and will be read by the photographic printer. The instructions will indicate to the printer the changes to its normal automatic exposure settings to alter the color or density in the direction and to the degree specified. Then the operator reassembles the remaining components of the order and continues with the next order. When the laminator operator has completed a batch of makeover orders, the laminated roll of filmstrips, the sequenced bundle set of associated order materials, and usually a diskette of information is sent to the photographic printer to produce a roll of remade prints.
The rest of the workflow is similar to the original production workflow in that the prints are processed and sent through inspection, finishing and packaging steps where both the new prints and the laminated web of filmstrips are cut and packaged into the appropriate orders. If defects are again found in the new prints, the makeover process can be repeated or the order is sent to a minilab to make replacement prints.
With regard to a minilab, a small number of makeover orders can be sometimes sent to a minilab where an operator produces a new photographic print or other product in much the same way that a new customer order will be produced using the original film or other media. The difference between a new order and a makeover order in this case is that only the selected products are produced and the operator makes adjustments, inspects, and remakes the print or other product as needed until it is acceptable. Minilabs are used sparingly for makeover because they are relatively slow, and set up is required for each order.
Other types of products made in current photofinishing systems or labs such as enlargements, T-shirts, covers, etc., which need makeover, are typically reproduced from the original input media in the same manner that the original was produced. Even when products such as these are made by the new digital methods rather than optical, each product typically involves a unique process for makeovers.
Therefore, the conventional makeover process as described above, requires a large amount of labor, capitol equipment and materials. For example, labor is associated with lamination and the subsequent cutting and repackaging of film. Further, the materials used for lamination add to the labor and cost of the makeover process. The conventional makeover process for other products involve different workflows and typically require reworking the original media through much of the original production process.
Further, conventional photofinishing systems use optical printing methods with limited ability to improve the images other than overall color and density, and can only apply corrections to the overall image.